The Location of Pentecost

Introduction

Jesus thought it was important for His followers to be filled with the Holy Spirit and told His disciples in Luke 24:49: “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” A short time later, in Acts 1:4-5: “… [Jesus] commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Many believe the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost occurred in or around the Upper Room, however, the best evidence shows it most likely happened on the Temple Mount.

The Upper Room

The Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts record that after Jesus ascended to heaven, His followers remained in Jerusalem, with the temple at the heart of their activities (Luke 24:52; Acts 3:1). Luke recounts that on “the day of Pentecost” (the biblical feast of weeks, Shavuot, see Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:15-16; Numbers 28:26), the followers of Jesus gathered together (Acts 2:1), but he never specified the location of their gathering. Christian tradition came to identify the location for the disciples’ gathering on the day of Pentecost as the same place where Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples, within the upper city of Jerusalem. These traditions, however, do not predate the fifth century AD during the Byzantine period. Luke and Mark describe the location of the Last Supper as “a large upper room” (ἀνάγαιον; anagaion: Luke 22:12; Mark 14:15), which seems similar to Luke’s description of the place where the disciples gathered after Jesus’ ascension, an “upper room” (ὑπερῷον; hyperoon: Acts 1:13).

In spite of the general similarity between these locations, the Greek terms used by Luke to describe both are different, which doesn’t assume they were the same place. The Latin translation of the New Testament, however, translated the different Greek words with the same Latin word cenaculum. Based, then, upon the Latin translation, Christians, beginning in the fifth century, identified the location of the Last Supper as the same place as the upper room in Acts 1. Even if the room of the Last Supper was the same “upper room” in Acts 1 where the disciples met, the narrative of Acts doesn’t suggest that the followers of Jesus remained in the upper room for the events recounted in Acts 2. In fact, the Greek syntax at the beginning of the second chapter of Acts preserves a Hebraic-styled narrative break, “And when the day of Pentecost came,” which separates what follows from everything that had previously occurred.[1] In other words, the narrative of Acts 2 indicates that the followers of Jesus had moved in time and location from the first chapter of Acts. So, where, then, did the events in Acts 2 take place?

The House Where They Were Sitting

Luke’s mention of “the house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2) has suggested to many that the disciples gathered in the upper room mentioned in Acts 1:13. It seems more probable that Luke’s language reflects a manner of speaking within Judaism about the temple of Jerusalem, i.e., “house (בית; bayit) of the LORD.”[2] Within ancient Jewish sources, and even until today, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is referred to in Hebrew as הַר הַבַּיִת (har habayit; lit. “the mountain of the house”; see m. Bikkurim 3:4). Pilgrims in the first century entered the Temple Mount from the south. Remains of the southern gates used by pilgrims can still be seen in Jerusalem, outlined today by a Double and Triple Gate. The Triple Gate lies approximately 100 meters to the east of the Double Gate. The Mishnah described pilgrims entering and exiting the Temple Mount through these gates; it’s important to note how it speaks about the Temple Mount and the temple:

Whosoever it was that entered the Temple Mount (להר הבית; l’har habayit) came in on the right and went and came out on the left, save any whom aught befell, for he went round to the left. “What ails you that you go to the left?” “Because I am a mourner.” “May He that dwells in this House (בבית הזה; b’bayit hazeh) give you comfort!” “Because I am under a ban.” “May He that dwells in this House (בבית הזה; b’bayit hazeh) put it into their hearts to bring you near again!” (m. Middot 2:2)

In the first part of the book of Acts, Luke’s Greek narrative frequently preserves Hebraic-styled syntax and idiom; thus, the mention of the “house” in Acts 2:2 likely reflects his preservation of the Hebrew idiom that identified the temple as “the house.” The location of the events in Acts 2 upon the Temple Mount in Jerusalem seems certain in light of the festival of Pentecost, the crowds encountered by the disciples, and the ritual immersion of the large crowd that repented.

The Festival of Pentecost

“Pentecost,” which means “the fiftieth day,” was the name used by Greek-speaking Jews for the harvest festival known in Hebrew as Shavu’ot, the Feast of Weeks (Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:9-10, 16; 2 Chronicles 8:13). Originally, Shavu’ot was a “day of the firstfruits” (Numbers 28:26) of the wheat harvest (Exodus 34:22). The festival occurred fifty days (hence Pentecost) after Passover. In the first century, the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes all differed in how they determined the fifty days, and thus, when the festival should be celebrated.

After Jesus ascended to heaven, His disciples remained in Jerusalem and “were continually in the temple blessing God” (Luke 24:52-53). Clearly, Jesus’ followers didn’t interpret any of His actions prior to and including His crucifixion as either rejecting the temple or rendering it obsolete. We should assume, then, that Jesus’ followers would have participated in the pilgrim festival of Pentecost in accordance with the commandment of God: “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place which he will choose: at the feast of unleavened bread (Passover), at the feast of weeks (Pentecost), and at the feast of booths (Sukkot)” (Deuteronomy 16:16; see Exodus 23:17; 34:23; Philo: Special Laws 1.69-70; and Acts 20:16).

During the first century, the yearly requirement to appear in Jerusalem for the festivals only applied to those living in the land of Israel (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 4.203) due to practical issues; however, many Jews living outside the land of Israel made the festival pilgrimages to Jerusalem (Josephus, Wars of the Jews 5.199). The first-century Jewish historian Josephus mentions that the population of Jerusalem swelled at Pentecost as Jewish pilgrims came from all over the countryside (Wars of the Jews 1.253; cf. 2 Maccabees 12:31-32; Wars of the Jews 2.42; Antiquities of the Jews 3.252-254; 13.252; and 17.254). Luke also attests to the multitudes of Jewish pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome” (Acts 2:9-11). Peter addressed these crowds of pilgrims who were participating in the festival, which took place in the temple.[3]

In later Jewish tradition, Jews identified the festival of Pentecost as the time when God gave the Torah to Israel on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 19:1; 2 Chronicles 15:10-12). While it is unclear how widespread this tradition was in the first century, some Jewish communities identified Pentecost as a date for the renewal of the Sinai covenant (Book of Jubilees 1:1; 6:17-19; 14:20; 22:1-6; 1QS 1:8-2:25; 4Q280; 4Q86; 4Q287). Within Luke’s description of the phenomena that occurred among Jesus’ disciples on the day of Pentecost, he drew strong connections with God’s appearance on Sinai (Exodus 19): noise, wind, and fire. The first-century Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria describes the event at Sinai as follows:

I should suppose that God wrought on this occasion a miracle of a truly holy kind by bidding an invisible sound to be created in the air more marvelous than all instruments and fitted with perfect harmonies, not soulless, nor yet composed of body and soul like a living creature, but a rational soul full of clearness and distinctness, which giving shape and tension to the air and changing it to flaming fire, sounded forth like the breath through a trumpet an articulate voice so loud that it appeared to be equally audible to the farthest as well as the nearest.… Then from the midst of the fire that streamed from heaven there sounded forth to their utter amazement a voice, for the flame became articulate speech in the language familiar to the audience, and so clearly and distinctly were the words formed by it that they seemed to see rather than hear them. What I say is vouched for by the law in which it is written, “All the people saw the voice.” [Exodus 20:18] (On the Decalogue 33, 46-47)

Philo’s description of God’s appearance on Mount Sinai shares further similarities with Luke’s account of the day of Pentecost, particularly the language and tongues of fire. Luke sought to make a connection between the event he described in Acts 2 and God’s appearance on Mount Sinai, and as Peter’s sermon to the crowd shows, the outpouring of the Spirit fulfilled Moses’ wish, “Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put His spirit on them” (Numbers 11:29), as well as testifying that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah promised by God.

So why did Luke draw a connection between the day of Pentecost and the theophany on Sinai? It was assumed within Jewish tradition that the first redemption, the exodus from Egypt, prefigured the future redemption God would bring about for His people. Luke tied the events that happened on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) with God’s appearance on Sinai (the first redemption) to signal that with the ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, God had begun the final redemption as proven through the outpouring of His Spirit, which testifies to the Messiahship of Jesus.

Pentecost commemorates both the ratification of God’s first national covenant with Israel with Moses receiving the Law at Mount Sinai and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem 1,500 years later on Mount Zion. Consequently, Pentecost is the “birthday” season of both of God’s covenant nations, the natural Israel and spiritual Israel. As it was during the first Pentecost experience by Mount Sinai at the “birthing” of the Hebrew nation, a second supernatural experience now accompanied the “birth” of a new Hebraic movement that will change the world forever. This time, it was not the giving of the Law, but the giving of the Spirit which launched the spreading of the good news of God’s salvation to all mankind. A new nation, a “spiritual Israel,” was born out of the original people group, though not without difficult birth pangs. This new community of faith in the Messiah, rooted in Hebraic tradition and spiritual fruits, soon spread across the world, reaching every nation with the saving message of the God of Israel.

As the Apostles’ message spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, it did so by the power and influence of God’s Holy Spirit. The new community of faith which centered upon the Messiah of Israel became unstoppable as it grew beyond Jerusalem and spread to Judea, Samaria, the Middle East, Asia Minor, and across Europe to the ends of the earth. Isaiah’s ancient prophecy began to be realized on earth, saying, “… For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring…” (Isaiah 44:3). In Ezekiel (36:27) God promised, saying, “I will put My Spirit within you…,”. In Zechariah (12:10) God assures all future generations that a time will come when “… I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced … they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son …” And while most Bible students associate this prophecy with Israel’s final salvation at the Messiah’s return, it certainly had its beginnings at that First Century Pentecost in Jerusalem.

The Crowds of Pentecost and the Ritual Immersion of the Converts

The crowds of Jewish pilgrims from all over the Roman world heard the disciples speaking in their own languages and were amazed (Acts 2:4-8). In response to their amazement, Peter stood and addressed the crowd (Acts 2:14-39) proclaiming Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah of Israel and identifying what the pilgrims saw and heard as the “pouring out” of the Holy Spirit. This signified the advent of the Messianic era, so Peter called upon the people “to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus” (Acts 2:38). Peter’s discourse and the events that precipitated it suggest a public location; moreover, the only place in Jerusalem where such crowds would have gathered on the day of Pentecost would be the Temple Mount.[4]

According to the book of Acts, those who responded to Peter’s call “to repent and be baptized” were about 3,000 people (Acts 2:41). For 3,000 to be saved, a crowd of at least 30,000, up to 100,000 would likely have assembled. The Jewish historian Josephus and others estimate that hundreds of thousands gathered in Jerusalem during the holy feasts. This large multitude could not fit in or around the Upper Room which likely was at or near capacity with 120 people (Acts 1:15).

The Upper Room was in a densely populated residential area of Jerusalem. It had narrow streets and many buildings. A multitude of people couldn't gather in this area as the narrow streets and buildings would have made this virtually impossible. Due to the narrow streets and buildings around the Upper Room, Peter could have only preached to several hundred people at best. There was no reason for a multitude of people to be in the residential area by the Upper Room as it was not in an area of public interest. The Temple Mount was the center of public activity, especially during the holy feasts.

The ritual immersion pools (miqva’ot) located around the southern and southwestern portions of the Temple Mount offer the only place in Jerusalem able to accommodate the ritual immersion of so many people.[5] These ritual pools serviced the pilgrims entering the temple (see Luke 2:22; Acts 21:24) and could accommodate the swollen masses of pilgrims who converged on the temple during the festivals. The most practical setting for such a series of events on the festival of Pentecost would be in the vicinity of the temple in Jerusalem. The Upper Room is located in the southwest corner of Jerusalem, over one-half mile (0.83 kilometers) from the Temple Mount, most likely too far away for a large crowd to go to for baptisms, etc.[6]

When the temple stood, the Jewish people identified it as the dwelling place of God’s presence, i.e., His Holy Spirit, what rabbinic tradition called the Shekhinah. It makes perfect sense that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost would occur in relationship with the temple in Jerusalem (see Joel 3:5). Moreover, Jewish tradition believed that the Holy Spirit manifested itself among those sitting together (Acts 2:2) studying Torah (see m. Avot 3:2; and b. Berachot 6a). During the days of the Second Temple, the Temple Mount served as a center for the study of the Torah (see Antiquities of the Jews 17:140-163; Luke 2:48-49, 21:37; t. Sanhedrin 7:1; t. Hagigah 2:9; m. Yoma 7:1; m. Sotah 7:7-8; and b. Pesahim 26a). That the disciples were seated indicates that they were studying the Torah, and possibly the words of Jesus (Matthew 18:20), as they gathered “together in one place” when they received the Holy Spirit (see m. Bikkurim 1:6; t. Sotah 15:12).[7] According to Jewish tradition, God gave Moses the Torah on the festival of Pentecost[8] (Book of Jubilees 1:1),[9] which explains the appearance of many of the Sinai motifs, e.g., fire, wind, and languages,[10] in Luke’s description of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. All the events of Acts 2 occurred in a public setting; given the date of Pentecost, the only natural location for these events to take place was the temple in Jerusalem – the House of the Lord.

The Time of the Day

When the Holy Spirit fell, people thought the apostles were drunk (Acts 2:13), but Peter reminds them that it was only the third hour of the day (9 am) (Acts 2:14-15). The time of day could be an important clue as to the location of the event, as it would be the time for the morning prayer at the Temple. The disciples regularly went to the Temple during the times of prayer (Acts 3:1). Therefore, the apostles and disciples were most likely on the Temple Mount when Pentecost happened.

The Peculiar Number of Converts

Those who responded to Peter’s call “to repent and be baptized” were about 3,000 people (Acts 2:41). The number 3,000 is a peculiar number. When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, it has been estimated that it took them 50 days to get to Mt. Sinai. Of course, during this time there was fire from heaven leading the way.

While Moses was talking with God and receiving the 10 Commandments, the people had resorted to idolatry. What happened when Moses came back down? He purified the land by having the sons of Levi go through the camp and slay the people with swords. It was brutal. The scriptures say that on that day about 3,000 of the people fell (Exodus 32:28). Now here we are at the first Pentecost after the exodus of Jesus, fire falls from heaven, and about 3,000 people repent and are baptized!

Can you see the amazing hand of God in all of this?! God is the God of exchanges! He gives us beauty for ashes and turns death into life.

References

1. Marc Turnage, Windows into the Bible: Cultural & Historical Insights from the Bible for Modern Readers (Springfield, MO: Logion Press, 2016)

   
   

2. Sar-El Tour & Conferences: Pentecost in Jerusalem | What Happened on that Special Day (https://sareltours.com/article/pentecost-in-jerusalem)

   
   

3. Holy Land Site: Temple Mount & Pentecost (https://www.holylandsite.com/temple-mount-pentecost)

   
   

4. Jeff Polen Music: Blog | The Southern Steps #SonlifeIsrael2017 (https://jeffpolenmusic.com/2017/10/25/the-southern-steps-sonlifeisrael2017/)

Endnotes

[1] F. Blass and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1975), 208.

[2] Cited from Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Samuel 1:24; 3:15; 1 Kings 3:1; 6:37; 7:12; 9:1; Isaiah 2:2; 37:1; 66:20; Jeremiah 7:2; 17:26; 19:14. Usually the Jerusalem temple is identified throughout the Old Testament as the “house of the LORD.” Even in the New Testament, the Temple is referred to as “house” (John 2:17; Matthew 21:12-13).

[3] Shmuel Safrai, “Religion in Everyday Life,” in The Jewish People in the First Century: Historical Geography, Political History, Social, Cultural and Religious Life and Institutions (Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum; vol. 2; Van Gorcum: Assen, 1976), 810; and idem, “The Temple,” in The Jewish People in the First Century, 893-894.

[4] See Rainey and Notley, The Sacred Bridge, (Jerusalem: Carta, 2006), 370.

[5] In recent years, a large number of Jewish ritual immersion pools have been uncovered in excavations around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; see Hillel Geva, “Jerusalem. The Temple Mount and Its Environs,” in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (ed. E. Stern; vol. 2; The Israel Exploration Society: Jerusalem, 1993), 739-740. In 2004, the Pool of Siloam (John 9:7) was uncovered south of the Temple Mount. This large pool served as a ritual immersion pool for pilgrims during the Jewish festivals; see Ronny Reich, Excavating the City of David: Where Jerusalem’s History Began (Israel Exploration Society: Jerusalem, 2011), 225-244, 328-333.

[6] There is not really a water source near the Upper Room. Perhaps they walked down to the Pool of Siloam and were baptized there, but it is more likely that these 3,000 new believers were baptized in the large number of ritual immersion pools around the Temple Mount.

[7] The disciples would not have been praying as Jews prayed standing, not sitting. Sitting was the posture for Torah study.

[8] Jewish tradition also identifies Pentecost as the day upon which David was born and died (Ruth Rabbah 1:17; y. Bezah 2, 61b; see Acts 2:29).

[9] The Book of Jubilees also connects the festival of Pentecost with the covenant God made with Noah in Genesis 9 (Book of Jubilees 6:17-19). The Qumran community annually renewed the covenant, in which they brought into the community new initiates, at the festival of Pentecost.

[10] The school of Rabbi Ishmael interpreted the verse, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces” (Jeremiah 23:29) as, “Just as a hammer is divided into many sparks, so every single word that went forth from the Holy One (i.e., at Sinai), blessed be He, split up into seventy languages (i.e., the languages of the nations of the world; see Acts 2:5-11)” (b. Shabbath 88b).